Not a bad characterization, considering the Hawkeyes road schedule this season consisted of trips to Ames, Iowa; State College, Pa.; Madison, Wis.; East Lansing, Mich.; and Columbus, Ohio. Yet, the exotic nature of this Bowl Championship Series assignment won't end come the Jan. 5 kickoff against Atlantic Coast Conference champion Georgia Tech (11-2).

"The most obvious thing that stands out is their offensive attack," said Ferentz, from the tarmac at Miami International Airport. "We haven't faced anything like that in my 11 years at Iowa. It's a very different attack. It's a very tough attack to prepare for schematically. More importantly, they have some very good players that execute well."

The Yellow Jackets' option offense averaged 35.3 points and 307.2 rushing yards. Tough season-ending opponents aren't foreign to Iowa, which will play its sixth January bowl game since 2002. Yet plenty will be unfamiliar to the co-Big Ten runner-up Hawkeyes (10-2, 6-2).

Iowa and Georgia Tech are meeting for the first time. The Hawkeyes have only played seven games all time against current ACC schools, losing four to Miami and three to North Carolina State. The four meetings against the Hurricanes came before they joined the ACC.

Though the Hawkeyes will have completed two days worth of workouts before the Yellow Jackets land in South Florida, Ferentz said the early arrival was a matter of practicality.

"For us, we needed to get outdoors," said Ferentz, whose only other BCS appearance was a 38-17 Orange Bowl loss to Southern Cal in 2003. "We haven't had a chance to be outdoors since November. We can practice indoors, but it's not quite the same. It's not like we're trying to be overly gung ho. We just want to get acclimated a little quicker."

Juan C. Rodriguez can be reached at jcrodriguez@SunSentinel.com

INFORMATIONAL BOX:

Monday: Independence Bowl

Texas A&M (6-6) vs. Georgia (7-5)

Kickoff: 5 p.m., Shreveport, La. ESPN2

About Texas A&M: Mike Sherman will go to his first bowl game as Aggies coach after A&M relied on a balanced offensive attack that averaged 33.9 points. The Aggies finished fifth in the Big 12 South after losses to Oklahoma State, Texas and Colorado by 10 or fewer points.

About Georgia: The Bulldogs endured the worst year of the Mark Richt era, prompting the ninth-year coach to fire three defensive staffers after that unit got torched all year. Quarterback Joe Cox threw an interception in each of his first eight games, though the Bulldogs can be proud of their win over Georgia Tech in the regular-season finale.

Worth noting: The Aggies rank fifth in the nation at 465 offensive yards per game, and Georgia ranks 10th in the SEC at 26.4 points allowed.